Are we ever really alone?
by K-9mom
Summary: A little story about the losses in his life and the fact that he never really is alone, even if he thinks he is. This story is fictional and developed in my crazy mind as an arc to the beginning if season 3. I have no right to anything NCIS related.
1. Chapter 1

The members of NCIS Headquarters in Washington DC had just lost a very special member of their organization. Agent Caitlyn Todd had been killed by Ari Haswari on Gibbs' watch and he was having a hard time digesting it. Sure, he stayed strong while around the office and his team, he would never let them know how close he was to cracking, but it had been nearly 4 months and they had a job to do.

The way Gibbs dealt with his grief was normally to go home and work on his boat with a glass of bourbon and just not think about anything other than his craft. But on this night, he needed more and had taken a beautiful red haired Navy Captain to dinner. They had served together in Desert Storm and she was there for Gibbs after Shannon and Kelly were killed and been dating off and on ever since. But with their schedules, her deployments, and his various marriages, it wasn't easy to spend a whole lot of time together. Tonight, he needed her, so he had called her and she agreed to take the drive up from Norfolk.

Gibbs made sure everything was settled at the office and excused his team for the weekend, hoping they wouldn't be called back in. He left the Navy Yard, stopped at the package store, and then headed home to shower, tidy up the house a bit, and get dressed for dinner.

He arrived at Fiola Mare, an upscale restaurant they both liked and smirked ear to ear when he walked in and saw her. He quickly met her with a kiss and the waiter took them to their table. Being the gentleman, Gibbs pulled out Debby's chair and waited until she sat before he took his seat.

Dinner had gone well, and after, he walked her to her car before going to his. She pulled out and followed him back to his house, neither of them noticing the third car following them from a distance.

At the house, they had sat and talked a bit longer, she, with her shoes off and cuddled into him. It didn't take too long before he leaned in to kiss her which escalated things quite quickly. Within minutes, he was carrying her to the bedroom with his shirt and her dress already on the floor.

He placed her on the bed and began climbing over her as her hands were working on undoing his belt and pants. He kicked off his pants and his lips were moving over her neck and down to her chest, his hands making quick action to remove her bra.

The two had slowly gratified each other for quite some time, sharing pleasure's, too busy to hear anyone enter the house. Just as they both reached their climax, he fell to the bed next to her, fully exhausted. Both sweating profusely and winded, they laid entangled until they caught their breath.

Moments later, Gibbs sensed something so he jumped up and told Debby to stay where she was. He got up and found his boxer shorts on the floor near the door and as he leaned down, he was banged on the back of the neck knocking him out cold.

Debby jumped towards the intruder and he opened fire with a spray of bullets, putting two of the shots directly into Debby's chest. The intruder ran out the door just as a neighbor was passing by hearing the shots, and called 911, being sure to mention that he knew Gibbs worked for NCIS.

Director Jennifer Shepard was the first on scene with Special Agent Tony DiNozzo on her heels, so they pulled their weapons and entered the house tactically in case there was another intruder.

They saw the clothes on the floor in the living room and they shrugged their shoulders to each other, then cleared the basement and lower level of the house so they started towards the stairs. Things were not looking good and they both took a moment to catch their breaths before starting up the stairs.

Masad Officer Ziva David, and Agent Tim McGee arrived only moments behind Metro PD, and seeing the extra car, they put PD in charge of securing the property and vehicles before they entered the house and caught up to Jenny & Tony.

They all creeped up the stairs and split up two by two to check the two bedrooms and bathroom. When Jenny and Tony opened the door to Gibbs' bedroom they found him lying on the floor naked, unconscious, and a woman on his bed who appeared dead.

Tony yelled to the other two and ran to check the woman as Jenny had already run to Gibbs. She checked his pulse and was relieved to discover he was still alive so she looked to Tony who gave her a quick shake of his head telling her the woman had no pulse.

Ziva and McGee ran into the room after clearing the second bedroom and were in shock at what they saw. Jenny was on her knees next to Gibbs trying to get him to wake up while McGee grabbed something to put pressure on Gibbs' bullet wounds to the leg and right shoulder. Ziva left the room and called in to get the ambulance to expedite.

Gibbs finally began to wake up but was in a lot of pain and a little confused. Jenny handed him his boxers and helped him slip them on while she and McGee helped him into the chair next to the bed. "Ziva, run down and get some ice!" Jenny yelled while she held her hand on Gibbs' neck.

When the spider webs in Gibbs' head started to clear, he looked over to the bed and saw Debby's dead body and looked back to the floor, closing his eyes for a moment to collect himself. He was flooded with emotions of love, pain, loss, and total embarrassment.

When Ziva walked in, she asked what happened. The rest of the team were almost scared for her safety, but Ziva was too new to know how angry Gibbs could get when his personal life was involved. He just put his hands to his face, elbows resting on his knees and shook his head. "I have no FUCKING idea!" He yelled as he tried to jump up but was a bit dazed, so Jenny grabbed him again and helped him sit back down.

Jenny stood up, "Ok. Someone call Ducky for the body…." Gibbs spoke up, "Debby… call her Debby, not the body!" They could tell he was upset so she took a breath, "Sorry Jethro. Someone call Ducky, so he can take Debby. Someone help me get Jethro downstairs so we don't have the EMT's contaminate our scene here. The rest of you, get to processing, and I mean everything! Let's find out who did this!"

Tony took Gibbs' right side while Jenny took his left and they started out of the room. "McGee, grab him a pair of shorts from the bottom drawer!" McGee did what he was told but they all wondered how Jenny knew what drawer Gibbs kept his shorts in.

McGee helped him get the shorts on before they took him out to the ambulance where the EMT's began their work. He hated being bothered so much with the blood pressure, temperature, and wound cleaning, so Jenny stayed with him to insist he cooperate. He didn't want to go to the hospital while Debby's killer was on the loose and his team was going through his house, but again Jenny told him he needed to stand down and get checked out.

When Ducky and Jimmy arrived, the ambulance had already left. When they entered the house, they couldn't believe their site but went to work upstairs to help try to recreate what happened to Debby. The rest of the team was uncomfortable searching through their leaders personal things and especially with knowing what they were doing when it happened.

At the hospital, the doctor cleaned and sutured the wounds. Unfortunately the wound on the should required that he have surgery to close it up and they sent him in for a cat scan. When everything came back normal and he was finally awake, Gibbs wanted to check out and there was nothing Jenny was going to say or do to keep him there, so they asked for a scrub top for him and the doctor said that because of the right shoulder, he did have to wear a sling to immobilize the arm and the leg was wrapped up in a bandage. He would have to stay off it at least 10 days and bandages needed to be changed at least twice a day. He thanked the doctor and they got Jenny's driver to pick them up at the hospital.

By the time they got back to Gibbs' house, Ducky and Jimmy were gone with the body and Ziva, McGee and Tony were just finishing up their investigation but they wouldn't allow him into the house in case they missed something and needed to go back. They certainly didn't want anything being disturbed.

Tony and McGee saw the car pull up and went out to assist Gibbs from the vehicle which only pissed off the older man. "What did you find?" he asked his team as they helped him to sit on the front step. Jenny had Tony take a written statement so Tony started asking him questions about what transpired. Gibbs shook his head, "I am NOT going to talk about this right now! I want to know what the hell you guys found. I have no doubt you went through every inch of my house, you must have found something!"

They all looked to each other knowing how uncomfortable the situation was so McGee spoke up to try to break the ice. "Well… we recovered all the bullets. Looks like the shooter was leaving the bedroom as he opened fire. We were able to lift some prints from the doorways, door knobs, and stairwell but we won't know whose prints they are until we get everything to Abby. Ducky said, uh…" he looked at Gibbs. "Sorry boss. We didn't find any id on your friend." He looked to the ground, then to the others and back to Gibbs.

Gibbs took a breath, closed his eyes, and answered, "Debby." He dipped his head knowing he was going to have to tell them everything eventually. "Navy Captain Deborah Paxton. She lives on base down in Norfolk, DOB is 4/23/64." McGee wrote it all down and continued the sitrep he had begun earlier.

Gibbs thought for a moment, "Alright... we went to Fiola Mare for dinner, he possibly followed us home from there. McGee and Ziva, you two go check all the camera's from that area. He looked up at all the houses in the neighborhood. Tony, you visit all the houses in the area to check for cameras and see if they saw anything, this bastard has to have been hanging around a while."

The team all took off their ways while Jenny said she would run into the house and put a bag of clothes together, then she wanted to take him to her house, but he wanted to go to NCIS. He felt at NCIS, even in Jenny's Office, he could be more helpful. When they got to there, Jenny helped him hobble into the building and up to her office.

Gibbs sat on the couch and she tossed his bag next to him. "You are staying with me the next few days, we don't know yet if this was a hit specifically for…" she forgot the woman's name. "Debby" he filled in. Jenny nodded, "Sorry, Debby. We don't know if it was specific for her or both of you, or you and she was hit by mistake."

He sat with his elbows on his knees and his face hidden in his hands before he looked up, "No, this had to be a hit on Deb. The shooter had the chance to take me out, I didn't even see him coming and he chose to knock me out and not kill me. I think the shot to my leg was just ricochet."

Jenny sat down in her chair knowing she had to do what he didn't want anyone to do. "Alright Jethro, walk me through this. What the hell happened? Who is this woman? How long have you known her? What was she involved in? Why would there be a hit on her?"

Gibbs rolled his eyes. The last person he wanted to talk to about his latest romantic interest, is a past girlfriend. But he knew it was Jenny or a lower ranking member of his team and he knew she was doing what a director was supposed to do.

He sat back on the couch, cleared his throat and began telling her what he knew starting with when he and Debby met. He could see Jenny's mind travelling to the dates which was obvious that he had already known Debby before he and Jenny were together.

Gibbs shook his head, "hey… stop! She was deployed the entire time you and I were together. She and I never really officially dated."

Jenny nodded, "Ah, so she's just been a warm body on a cold night?" He rolled his eyes and got upset, "Knock it off! It's nothing like that! More like friends with benefits", he responded as he stretched his neck and starred her right in the eye, knowing that always made Jenny uneasy.

"Alright, alright, so how well do you know this friend? And I mean professionally of course. Like what does she do for the Navy?" He shrugged, "We don't really get into the nitty gritty of our work but I know she is working in the Office of Navy Intelligence. She has been deployed all over the world, she is a Captain now. I rarely even know where she goes when deployed, but I know she can be deployed 6 months to a couple years at a time depending. I would have no idea what kinds of cases she was involved in."

Jenny was writing all of this down in her report and asked how long she had been with him before it happened. He chuckled and shook his head placing it back on the couch. Staring at the ceiling, he filled her in on how he had called her earlier to see if she was around. They had agreed to meet and he made the plans to meet at 8:00. They had dinner and at about 10:00, they went back to his house, half hour drive and hung out on the couch for about 45 minutes. He paused, because neither of them wanted to talk about what happened next but it had to be said.

He stretched his neck again and continued, "We uh, started making out and took it to the bedroom. When we were… done", he blushed and shrugged not able to make eye contact with Jenny, "Deb said she heard something downstairs. Just as I was getting up to grab my skivvies, I was clocked on the back of the neck and was out cold until you woke me up."

She didn't want to hear it and the memories of Jethro naked in her bed all those years ago made her heart pitter patter. He had been one of the most generous lovers she had ever been with. She shook off the thoughts and got back on track. "Did you hear any of the gunshots?" He was trying to think back but shook his head. "No."

"Alright, you stay here and rest on the couch and I will go down and get a sitrep from your team." Gibbs shook his head, "no way, I am going down…." she stood in front of him looking down. "Jethro! You either stay right here on the couch, or I will find a secure place for you to rest. Either way, you can not be an agent in this case!"

He sat back down knowing she was right, and would back down for now, but there was no way she was keeping him in the dark. Besides, he knew his leg wouldn't let him walk around alone.

When Jenny left and he calmed down, the exhaustion began to take over, so he got comfortable on the couch and fell asleep. He woke up about 2 hours later and when he opened his eyes, he saw Abby sitting on the floor next to the couch watching him. He took a few breaths to wake up and then sat up, "Abby, what are you doing up here?"

She jumped onto the couch next to him and took him into an embrace, so he accepted her. "Gibbs, I am so happy you're ok. I am SO sorry about your girlfriend." He could tell she was sincere so he thanked her and tried to pull away, but she kept her arms tightly around him so he continued to hold her. He couldn't lie, the feeling of a loving hug felt really good right now. "Thank you Ab's."

Abby finally broke away but leaned her head on his good shoulder making him reach his arm around her shoulder to pull her in tighter. "Do you have any information on any of the evidence they pulled from my house?" She smiled, "that's another reason I am up here. I wanted you to be the first to know. I ran all the prints they pulled, and we got mostly yours and a couple of Debby's. Nothing came up with any unknown prints. Also, any fibers they pulled were all yours. When I ran the DNA on the sheets and clothes, there was a second pair of woman's pantie's that came back with someone else's DNA, but it was a solid hit on whose DNA it was and that they were there for a few months. Don't you ever pick up your room?"

"Abby!", Gibbs blushed and his mind started to wander, wondering who they could have belonged to, but he didn't want to get any deeper into the conversation. Abby assured him that she would not say anything about who they belonged to as they were clearly not part of the case unless he had two women their that night and one left. He told her a definite, "NO!"

"Sorry Gibbs. I just needed to corroborate your story about only you and Debby being in the room. There was plenty of DNA left behind to prove that." He rolled his eyes and shook his head as his face turned a new shade of red. "What about the bullets?" he asked.

Just then, Jenny walked in and Abby sat up as if she was caught in the principal's office. "Director! I was up here waiting for you to fill you in on the case." Jenny smiled, she knew there was nothing going on between Gibbs and Abby, it was a harmless father/daughter type relationship, even if she believed Abby had a bit more of a crush on Gibbs then he ever acknowledged. It did warm her heart a little to know Abby was one person that could make Gibbs smile, and they were such opposite personalities. "You're fine Abby, don't worry."

Jenny followed up with the question of the bullets and Abby responded by telling them that the bullets were from a Glock 17. There was a total of 10 bullets shot and it was clear the intruder never entered the bedroom except to hit Gibbs over the head. The bullets were all shot from the same gun, so most likely there was only one intruder. There were prints lifted from the bullets but there was no hit in the computer as of yet though she promised to keep trying.

Abby started to get up and Gibbs placed a quick kiss on her cheek. "Thank you Ab's." She looked him in the eye and smirked, "no problem. I better get back to work. We'll find him Gibbs." He smiled back, "I have no doubt."

When she was gone, Jenny shut the door and went back to sit at her desk. She looked up to Gibb's with a smirk, "so, what did she say about everything else? Anything show up with prints or DNA?"

Gibb's looked to the floor, "nope, nothing showed up that shouldn't have been there. I am hoping someone finds something on camera or Abby can get something off one of the bullets."

Jenny could tell he was looking much more haggard than she'd seen him since he was shot many years ago. She got up to walk to her window and shut the blinds. "You look exhausted, why don't you lay back down and try to get some sleep." He shook his head in disappointment, "Jen, I just want to go home."

"No way Jethro, you can't go home to the house. Besides, when you do leave this building, I am going to attach another agent to be your security." He was getting annoyed, "Jen! Come on."

She stood over him with her arms crossed. "I am not willing to budge on that Jethro. One, we don't know yet if this was a botched hit on you or if they were specifically after Debby and until we know they weren't after you, you are going to have security and two, you are injured so you can't react as fast as you normally would, AND your shooting arm is busted." He wasn't happy about it but had to admit she was right. "Besides, I was going to offer that you come home with me, but if you are not comfortable with that, I can send you to a safe house with Tony or McGee."

He rubbed his face and stretched his neck, "fine." She moved to grab a throw blanket from her bottom file cabinet drawer and tossed it to him. "Fine what? You want to go with me or want me to get a safe house set up?" Gibbs smiled at the way it was sounding in his head, "I will go home with you for the night."

Finally she walked over, shut off the overhead lights and switched on the lamp on her desk before sitting down. Gibbs finally gave in and laid back on the couch to get comfortable and covered over with the blanket.

Jenny started working on some files she had while he fell asleep. She kept watching him and remembered that the only time he looked truly peaceful was when he was sleeping. About an hour later, he woke up violently which made her jump up to run over to him and sat down as he sat up. "You ok Jethro." He was mad that he had a nightmare while she was right there. It always got worse during stressful situations and with this, he would expect them.

"I'm fine." She was looking him in the face and could tell he was sweating. She put her hand on his knee, "you sure? I can have Ducky come up here." He scrubbed his hands into his face, "no, I am fine. Really."

He stood up while holding onto the back of a chair with his left hand. "I gotta hit the head" and he looked around for something to help him hobble. Jenny stood up and took his arm, "let's go. Here, lean on me", and he put his left arm around her shoulder as she wrapped her right arm around the back of his waist to help him along.

Gibbs paused for a moment and grinned when they got in the bathroom, "you gonna get it out and hold it for me too?" She laughed and smacked him on the chest with her free arm, "Jethro!" He was laughing as they started moving towards the toilet, "WHAT?!" She blushed and shook her head, "Well Jethro, it's not like I haven't handled it before!" All he could do is shake his head and chuckle as he steadied himself so she could let go and turn her back.


	2. Chapter 2

Late that night, Jenny had taken Gibbs back to her house and although he didn't know it, there was added security agents outside the house, she wasn't going to take any chances.

She helped set him up in the den for a little while then offered him a drink and went to the kitchen to make them both something to eat. When she returned, she found him sleeping uncomfortably on the loveseat. She smiled and placed the sandwiches on the table.

Watching him for a moment she went over and sat next to him, tapping him on the shoulder. "Jethro, I think it's time to get you up to bed." His eyes opened and he took a deep breath, "ok".

She helped him up onto his feet and then up the stairs to the spare room. He sat on the edge of the bed and he kicked his shoes off before she pulled back the blankets and helped him in. "I'm not a freaking invalid!". She got mad, "yes, and a concussion, AND you are still feeling the effects of the meds."

He already began nodding off before she left which made her smirk. A drugged Gibbs, was a quiet Gibbs. She shut off the light and whispered "Good night", as she closed the door.

In the morning, she heard him fumbling around in the hallway, so she threw on her satin robe and went out to help him but he said he was fine and got himself into the bathroom. She waited outside of the room until he came back out and she helped him down the stairs. He tried to deny the assistance but she insisted.

She helped him to the kitchen where she sat him at the table and asked what he wanted for breakfast. A big grin shot across his face as he remembered she was a horrible cook. "Do you have cereal?" She smirked back realizing what had just happened. "Jethro, I can make eggs and toast ya know." They both chuckled as she brought him a bowl, milk, and cereal, then one for herself.

As she sat at the table, she told him her schedule for the day and told him he should stay at her house for the day and that she would send someone over (she still didn't think he knew there were agents outside) to stay with him. He stopped chewing his cereal and shot her a look, "what, the two agents outside aren't enough?"

She smirked and looked up at him, "I never could get anything by you. And no, I still want two agents outside, but want someone to at least stop in to check on you." He was shaking his head, "I am not sitting here all day. I need to go back to the house and I need to talk to Abby."

They argued about that for a few minutes before she finally agreed to let him go into the office. "Fine, i'm going to go jump in the shower and get dressed. I'll let you know when i'm out and you can use the shower down here."

Gibbs nodded, knowing this was his only chance to at least get into the office. "K." He went and sat on the couch in the study while she went upstairs and yelled back that she heard him. "Ok, give me a few minutes."

Gibbs knew she wouldn't be out for a while, so he got comfortable with his leg up on the ottoman and called Tony. "DiNozzo… it's Gibbs. Give me a sit rep".

Tony took a deep breath and looked at McGee and then Ziva, pointing to them to indicate it was Gibbs. He shrugged his shoulders to them knowing they were under the Director's orders not to give him any information without passing it by her first. The other two were just happy he called Tony and not them.

Tony made something up and told him they were still waiting for the evidence they gave Abby and that they should have something within the hour which left Gibbs unsatisfied. Tony told him he would call when they had something but Gibbs told him he'd be in by then and the two hung up.

Gibbs then called Abby, who was very happy to hear from him and asked how he was doing. He told her he was fine and asked what she had. She said they didn't have anything new except one video from a house across the street with a very blurred silhouette of a person entering Gibbs' driveway and disappearing behind the house. "Ok, I will be there in about an hour. Keep working on it. Good job Ab's."

About 15 minutes later, he heard Jenny yell from upstairs, that she was getting dressed and he could use the water to wash up. He really wanted a shower but couldn't for a few days because of the wounds, so he got up and hobbled over to the bathroom. When he was done washing with the wash cloth, he realized his clothes were upstairs, so he wrapped a towel around his waist before going out into the hallway.

He looked around for Jenny and she had been coming down the stairs, pausing when she saw him. There was something about him covered in just a towel around his waist that made her heart skip a beat.

He shot her a look and stopped, "I need my bag from upstairs." She stole another look before turning to trot back up the steps. "Sorry, let me grab it."

When she got downstairs, she delivered him the bag and let her eyes roam his body. He watched her for a moment, then smirked and turned to go back to the bathroom. She watched as he walked away, shaking her head and taking a deep breath at the sight of his near perfect body.


	3. Chapter 3

When they got into NCIS, the first thing Gibbs made her do was head to Abby's office. She gave Gibbs another reminder that he is NOT to work on this case and that after checking with Abby and the rest of his team, she was taking him directly back up to her office. He hesitantly agreed, but knew it was the only way he could get into the building.

When they got into Abby's Lab, they were met by the bouncing black haired woman trotting over to envelope Gibbs in a hug so he caught her and returned the hug before kissing her cheek. "Did you get anything?"

Abby told him nothing much had changed from an hour earlier but that she had a partial print she was running. The print came from the exterior kitchen door and so far no matches came up which made Gibbs start thinking. Even a partial would have come up if it was someone from NCIS, FBI, CIA, or any other federal agency. It would have also popped for someone they had arrested or someone who was in the service. "Abs, how long has it been searching?" She turned to look at him with a crooked grin. "It's been going since about 1am."

Gibbs lightly grabbed her arm, "Abby, have you been here all night?" She looked him in the eye very briefly, "ya, I needed to find something. When I did find the partial it was late and there was no way I was going to go home and go to bed with the partial print." He pulled her into another hug, kissing the top of her head. "Thank you baby." Abby stood up and had a tear in her eye, "anything for you Gibbs".

Just then, Tony, McGee, and Ziva all walked in and were asking how he felt, which of course he changed the subject quickly. As they were filling Gibbs in on their leads, Gibbs kept shaking his head. "No, we haven't hit it yet. None of that even makes sense."

As they were talking, they all heard Abby's machine bing and she ran over to it as they all spun around. "Gibbs.." She turned back to look at him as he approached and the others gathered around. "The partial came back as belonging to Lance Corporal Dale Simmons. Looks like he just got back from a 13 month deployment three days ago".

They could all tell by Gibbs' face that he didn't know him. "McGee, you get all the information you can on this guy. Ziva, DiNozzo, get down to Norfolk and talk to everyone who lived in the housing near Debby and anyone who she worked with or hung out with. If you run across Corporal Simmons, bring him in." They all nodded and did as they were told. He turned leaned over to give Abby another kiss on the cheek, "Thank you Abby. I owe you." She just smiled, "may I go take a nap now?" He just chuckled and squeezed her shoulder one more time, "absolutely."

Gibbs and Jenny left the lab and went down to see Ducky and Palmer. Ducky was just finishing the autopsy on Debby and Gibbs walked in. "Jethro, what are you doing here?" Gibbs had paused just inside the door and took a deep breath. "Just checking in, Duck. Did you find anything we could use?" Ducky shot Jenny a look and she nodded to tell him it was ok then she got a phone call, so she left to go back to her office.

Ducky looked to Palmer, telling him telepathically, to put the body in the freezer while he kept Gibbs busy over by the desk. Gibbs was looking to the floor and saw Ducky walking across the room, so he hobbled along behind him.

Ducky sat at his desk with the folder holding Debby's autopsy, so Gibbs grabbed a rolling stool and sat next to him. "Just tell me Duck." Ducky looked his friend in the eye, "Jethro, did you know Debby was pregnant?" Gibbs' eyes looked right past Ducky, "No… how far along was she?" Ducky responded softly, "about 14 weeks. I took a sample of DNA from the fetus and will get it to Abby." Gibbs just blinked and didn't say anything while Ducky studied his friend.

"Jethro. Is there any possibility of you being the father?" Gibbs didn't even look up and Ducky could tell the man was thinking, "Oh, Duck." Gibbs shook his head and stood up, reaching for the table. Ducky didn't know what that meant, but wasn't going to pry.

"Everything else I found, was semen, substantiating the fact that she had just had intercourse. Although I did collect the semen, I will assume it will come back as yours." Gibbs rolled his eyes at the thought of everyone handling his dna. "The cause of death is the obvious gunshot wounds but there is no way to know if the shots to her abdomen and chest came before the headshot." Gibbs just shot Ducky a look before he turned to leave but Ducky jumped up, "There's one more thing!"

Gibbs stopped to listen, "Had she ever mentioned about being raped?" He could tell by the look Gibbs gave him, that he had not known. "Without a doubt, she had been raped in the last few months. It isn't fresh, but she does have scarring."

Gibbs looks at the floor, "No, she never mentioned it." Ducky watched him, "it most definitely is not a new injury." Gibbs nodded and looked his friend in the eye. That was enough for Ducky to know Gibbs understood.

As Gibbs finally hobbled into the elevator, Ducky handed Palmer all the dna and the bullets to take to Abby. "Mr Palmer.." Ducky yelled as Jimmy was walking out the door. "Be sure it gets into Abby's direct hands and she signs for them." Palmer nodded, knowing that was the protocol for all evidence samples so he furrowed his brows and shrugged. "Will do."

Jimmy felt the elevator ride up to Abby's floor was quite awkward as Gibbs didn't say a thing to him, so he was happy when the door opened. Gibbs stayed in the elevator until it reached the top floor and he hobbled to Jenny's office and sat on the couch.

She could tell his brain was working in overtime so she stopped what she was doing and walked to sit on against the front of her desk. "What did they find?"

Gibbs paused for a moment and finally looked to her, "Abby came up with a partial print and I sent Tony & Ziva out to talk to the others where Debby lived. I have McGee working on a background for a Lance Corporal Dale Simmons." He paused again and she studied him closer. She had already received the report from Ducky, but she wanted to test him to see how much he would tell her. When he saw how intently she was waiting, he took a deep breath and finished telling her that Duck had discovered Debby was pregnant.

Jenny walked around and sat back at her desk, "and? Do you think you were the father?" Gibbs shook his head, "no." Jenny grinned and looked away, "thank you for at least telling me everything." He leaned back on the couch and put his hands behind his head, "I didn't tell you anything you didn't already know."

She felt bad as she knew he felt undermined, but it was one of those moments when she needed to remind him she was in charge. She returned his comment with just a smirk and looked him in the eyes, "it's one of the perks."

About three hours went by and McGee knocked on Jenny's door before he entered her office. "Director, Boss, I found as much info as I could on the Lance Corporal…" Gibbs sat up, "put it up on the screen" McGee made a gesture to Jenny asking to use her computer so she moved, allowing him space to log in and get it up on the big monitor.

"Lance Corporal Simmons was deployed in Afghanistan for 18 months, just got back about 5 months ago. He is stationed out of Norfolk and looks like he's a bit of a hot head. He was arrested 3 years ago for assault and had been written up by his CO on this last deployment for failure to follow orders and a physical altercation with another officer."

Jenny shook her head, "sounds like a great guy." Gibbs stood up, "Call Tony & Ziva, I definitely want this guy brought in today." McGee nodded, "on it boss. Anything else you want from me? Can I get you anything?"

Gibbs smirked at the younger man, "I'm all set, you work on getting the warrant for Simmons." With that, McGee left and quickly called Tony & Ziva before heading down to write up the warrant application.

Tony & Ziva had been at Norfolk for about an hour and had spoken to several people who knew Debby. No one knew of any issues or problems she had. One of her close friends said she seemed happy to be meeting up with Gibbs that night. They knew Debby had broken up with the Lance Corporal and were happy she was happy. One of them said Debby had seemed in a funk lately and had a hard time getting rid of Simmons.

Gibbs got up and waddled down to see Abby. She acted a little different when he asked if she had gotten anything. Just then, Jenny walked in behind him and he sighed, "I thought you were running to the men's room?" Jenny stood with her arms crossed, looking right at him. He just sighed again and shook his head, "whatever." Jenny looked to Abby, "Do you have anything Abby?"

Abby looked at both her bosses and smirked and responded quietly, "Actually, I did. Over here, I have the dna report on the semen." She paused, not making eye contact with either of them while Gibbs stretched his neck and blushed. "As expected, semen came back as only yours. No other DNA besides yours was found in or on her body." Gibbs took a deep breath and blinked. "What about the baby?"

Abby looked to both of them and looked to Gibbs' eyes, "Well, we can rule out Lance Corporal Simmons'." She could tell Gibbs was waiting for her answer, "not yours either." Gibbs squinted and licked his lips.

"So she's been with at least three partners in 4 months?" Jenny looked to Abby who just made a face and looked at Gibbs. "Ducky had said she has fairly new scars indicating she was raped in the last few months. I need to talk to this guy. If he isn't the father, he may know who is.

Just then Tony called Gibbs and told him they had custody of Simmons and some other info that they would share when they get into the office. Gibbs told the others what was happening and Jenny reminded him that he can not be part of the interrogation which made him sulk but he knew she was right.


	4. Chapter 4

Tony & Ziva had interrogated Lance Corporal Simmons while Director Shepard and Gibbs were in the viewing room. They had asked if he knew Debby was pregnant and he stated he did. They asked if he thought he was the father and he said he had just found out she was pregnant and didn't know who was the father. He denied any involvement with Debby's killing and had no explanation as to how his fingerprint got on Gibbs' door and finally stopped talking, saying he wanted a lawyer.

The two agents took the moment to let him know he is not the father of her baby and watched his behavior turn into more of an aww. They were thinking he should look relieved, but instead he looked more upset.

While they were busy with that, McGee was investigating the name of a guy one of the other women in the barracks had seen Debby with. McGee couldn't find any records of this guy having been in the military or arrested and there was several men with the name Greg Sullivan in Virginia so he was working on narrowing down the possibilities due to age, etc.

An hour or so later, McGee had narrowed down the search and the three younger members of the team went out to find and bring him in. Sullivan had agreed he had a relationship with Debby but said he didn't know she was pregnant or that she had been raped. He insisted that he had nothing to do with it.

The team had agreed that they would never know who it was that had raped her unless they could find an actual witness. When they requested a DNA sample he agreed to submit so they had no reason to hold him and had to let him go.

Besides, just because she had intercourse with the father of her baby, it didn't mean that he was the one who was guilty of raping her, especially since she had been with other men since then.

When Abby had the results of the dna vs the baby, it came back as Sullivan also not being the father. Sullivan had said they only dated a few weeks and hadn't seen her since then. Also, Ziva and Tony were able to secure an alibi for him the night of the murder, so they had to cut him loose.

Abby and Team Gibbs left Jenny's office after they shared their findings and Jenny sat down next to Gibbs. "Jethro… this means Debby has been with at least 4 men in a 4 month time span."

He could see where she was going with her thought and got angry, "she's NOT a friggin prostitute if that's what you're thinking!" Jenny just shook her head and took a deep breath. "Ok, ok. Sorry." She sat there for another moment, neither looking at each other until she finally got up and went back to her chair.

A few more days went by and the team worked hard to get information on the case but they had gotten another as well. Gibbs wanted to go out on that call, but Jenny wouldn't let him because the doctor hadn't cleared him to work. Gibbs had continued to stay with Jenny and the two were actually getting along well. By the end of the next week, he was able to actually put more weight on his leg but it was still an obvious hobble.

Jenny had taken him back to the doctor for a recheck and the wounds were heeling well so the doctor prescribed him to begin doing physical therapy. He also told him he could start taking full showers again which made him happy but then he said he still wouldn't clear him for work, so that made him mad again.

The team continued working hard investigating whomever they could find that knew Debby and it seemed they would never know who the father of the baby was, but things continued to look bad for Sullivan. He had no alibi for the time of the killing, and his fingerprint was on Gibbs' back door.

Jenny made sure Gibbs made it to his physical therapy appointments every other day. Normally it was she who took him, but she did have to send him with Abby a few times and even Ducky once and he complained every time.

On this night, the therapist had really pushed him with the shoulder movement and he was in real pain. Jenny took him back to her house after they stopped for dinner and he sat in the study, still complaining of the pain, so she massaged his left shoulder and gently massaged his right as well as his neck. When he finally quieted down and dipped his head, she asked him if it felt any better and he just groaned what she thought of a yes, so she continued.

Just being able to feel him like that made her core tingle and eventual made him begin to react. He could feel her begin to lean closer and eventually their lips met in a hot, passionate kiss that they have been yearning for several years.

He turned to allow her to fall onto him and their passion didn't stop. With Gibbs' arm still in a sling, it was hard for him to do much other than run his left hand over her curves and they both grinned through their kissing when he was able to unclip her bra with the one hand.

She finally sat up, "still the master, huh?" and removed her shirt and bra, then pants as he watched her and taking a deep breath. She then unbuckled his pants and pulled them down, releasing his tension and she took total control of the night.

When they were done, they were both exhausted, sweaty and ready to collapse. She knew how to tease him along, long enough to make their passion last and after their want for each other, it made it more fruitful, each remembering times past. "I've missed you Jenny….." Still laying on him, she smiled and rested her head on his torso, running her fingers through his chest hair. "Me too, Jethro…"

She finally got up and then helped him to sit up. "I better go jump in the shower. Wanna join me?" She could tell the answer by the boyish grin that he did, so she pulled him up and they both walked upstairs. She ran up to set the shower up as he took it one step at a time. Thankfully she had a gorgeous, large sized, tiled shower to fit both of them to share. After their shower, they did share her bed for the night. What they didn't realize, was they both left their cell phones down in the study.


	5. Chapter 5

On Saturday morning, Team Gibbs was on the schedule to work and there had been another case, so Abby had been working hard on the evidence from that case when McGee thought of another camera system to go through to help Gibbs' case.

He was in Abby's Lab and yelled out, "found it!". Abby went running over to see and McGee pointed it out, "look, there is a dark green Subaru parallel parked in front of Fiola Mare's. Now watch, there's Gibbs walking Debby to her car and then walking to his. Now, the Subaru looks harmless, but watch, it follows them through every intersection, but didn't turn down Gibbs' road."

Abby was following along fine and was on track, but McGee flipped to a new set of cameras. "Ok, now in this video, you see Gibbs walk Debby into the house and they shut the door. Then a few minutes later, you can barely make out headlights on a vehicle and there goes the same colored Subaru past the house and goes dark. We were assuming it left the street, but it didn't, look through the trees, it was parked on the side street. Now, look hard, you can see a shadow crossing Gibbs' neighbors yard and into Gibbs' backyard."

Abby was excited, but reminded him that they could not make out the person or even the persons clothing. That's when McGee got even more excited, "you're right… but look at the lights turn back on and that car leaves at the same time as the 911 call came in!"

She didn't get it, "ok, still doesn't tell us who the killer was OR that he was the actual killer." McGee smiled and hit the keyboard to show another set of video, "Ah.. but I just got THIS, this morning!" He pressed the button and there was an image of Lance Corporal Simmons face wearing the same clothes, crossing through the yard of the neighbor behind Gibbs. "Simmons jumped the fence and ran back to his car. When I looked up DMV records, guess what kind of vehicle Simmons owns BESIDES the pickup?" Abby smiled a huge smile, "A dark green Subaru?"

McGee grinned as big of a grin as she'd ever seen, "You got it! And with the fingerprint on the back door knob, I think we have our man!" McGee called Tony and was filling him in while Abby tried to call both Gibbs and Jenny, but there was no answer, so she left messages to call her.

He reminded Abby that it was early, but was concerned because Gibbs never, didn't answer her call, even at 2:00am.

Tony had the warrant drawn up and they went to Norfolk to get Simmons for the murder of Captain Deborah Paxton. By the time Gibbs and Jenny got the messages, the team was already on their way back to Washington with their man, so they all met at NCIS.

Gibbs and Jenny watched Tony interrogate Simmons from the observation room, but Simmons refused to talk, so they simply processed him for trial. It took everything Gibbs had not to go bullshit on the guy and Jenny could feel his tension.

"Jethro.. Follow me back up to my office", she nearly dragged him. When they finally got up to the office, he looked worn and drawn, which made her concerned even more. "Jethro, are you ok?" He just looked up to her with a fake smile, "ya, just happy they found the f*cker."

He sat in one of the comfortable chairs on wheels and rocked for a moment before leaning back so he could look up to the ceiling, and taking a deep breath. Her heart broke for him, she could only imagine what he was going through, especially so close to the death of his collegue and at this point, she had not known about his first wife and daughter.

"Jen, I need to go home. I can get around on my own now, you have your suspect in custody, there's no reason I can't go home." She hated to admit it, but he was right. He still hobbled when he walked, but he certainly didn't need anyone's help.

What he didn't know was that she already had a crime scene cleaning company go clean the room. Sure, there were still gonna be a few holes in the walls, but the blood and mess were gone. Also, Abby had stopped over there a few nights ago to be sure everything was buttoned up and put away so he would walk into a clean house.

"Ok, i'll take you home in a few minutes. Just bare with me a moment." She went down to see Abby and she confirmed the house was all set, then she stopped in to see the rest of the team who had finished booking Simmons and ready to go home. She thanked them for their hard work and asked them all, including Abby, Ducky, and Palmer, to meet them for dinner at Gibbs' house. She told them he didn't know anything, but she wanted him to be surrounded by friends as he really seemed down in the dumps. They all agreed that he would most likely be upset at first, being such a private person, but that they were sure he would come around. They agreed on a type of food and that Abby and McGee would pick it up on the way in.

When Jenny took Gibbs home, she followed him into the house. What he really wanted was to be dropped off so he could commiserate in the basement alone, but he let her in. She looked around and saw that things were cleaned up as she was told and she let him hobble his way up to the bedroom as she stood downstairs and watched.

When he disappeared around the corner, she let him have some time to himself before quietly climbing the steps at watched from the hallway. She saw him just sitting on the end of the bed, arms still in his sling, and head down so she went to sit next to him and put her arm around him. She could swear she saw a tear fall from his eye, and eventually, he leaned into her and let her hold him as he wept. It was something she had never seen him do and would never share with anyone. Right now, she was probably the best friend he had and he let that thick barrier he always kept up, crumble. She expected some emotion, but not this, so she cried along as she cradled him.

About fifteen minutes later, she realized he had fallen asleep in her arms. She wasn't in the most comfortable position but didn't want to move, so she stayed like that for about an hour until she had enough. Her back was hurting and she knew his neck was going to stiffen if he stayed like that too much longer. She thought she may be able to lay him back on the bed as she slipped out from under him but it didn't work. He woke up as soon as she moved.

He sad up and took a deep breath, realizing what had just occurred. "Sorry", he rubbed his eyes. She squatted back down to his level. Gibbs had a rule never to apologize, it just wasn't something he said, "Sorry? For what?" He just shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"Jethro. It's perfectly ok to grieve you know. You just had two women you care about murdered in front of you over a short period of time for crying out loud. I was more worried that you weren't grieving!" She put her hand on his knee, "Jethro, it's normal. And I am here for you. You have friends you can trust and I know for one, I am here for you." He grinned a crooked grin and looked up to her, "thank you."

"Lets go downstairs." He agreed and followed her down to the basement where they each grabbed a drink of bourbon. She just watched as he tinkered around with things. There wasn't much talking going on, just small talk about things completely not pertinent to work or their situation.

Eventually, they heard footsteps upstairs which put Gibbs on alert, but Tony & Ziva appeared quick enough, that he settled. Tony was his usually jolly self, though with some caution. Then Ducky and Palmer appeared which made Gibbs wonder what was going on. He began hobbling up the steps but was much stiffer than he had been, so Jenny put her hands on his back to secure him a bit. The others didn't see her, but he knew she was doing it which deflated him a little. He didn't like thinking that the little bit that he did that day was too much. Then he'd never get back to work as he wanted.

When they got upstairs, he was annoyed at all the people in his house, but Jenny stepped up and said it was all her idea, that she wanted the entire team to be together for dinner. He was annoyed, but Jenny's childish grin and look in her eyes always made him melt, so he let it go.

When Abby and McGee arrived, they carried in the food and put it on the counter, then Abby promptly ran to him to give him a hug. He hugged her with his only good arm, as he smiled and kissed her in the side of her head. "We wanted to remind you that we are all here for you. You are never alone."He just stood with his left arm around Abby and finally smiled. "Thank you guys", and he planted another peck on Abby's cheek.


End file.
